Abstract

A large body of research
documents the positive impact of sociodramatic play on children's language
development. Through the social interaction that takes place during
sociodramatic play, children develop the ability to express thoughts in a
logical sequence, share ideas about events in which there is not shared
context, and develop vocabulary. Previous research on the relationship between
sociodramatic play and language development in the preschool setting primarily
has been conducted in the dramatic play center. However, some children prefer
other activity areas that also are conducive to this beneficial form of play.
The block center is one such area. With its open-ended activities and
constructive play opportunities, the block center provides an area in which
children can use their imagination to create fanciful structures with their
friends and then take on roles as they interact with their creations and their
peers. The impact of a specific effort to incorporate toys from the block
center into shared storybook reading in order to promote sociodramatic play in
the block center is discussed in this essay as well as observations and recommendations
for promoting more of this important type of interaction throughout the
classroom.

Introduction

Do you find that play in the block center is often unfocused and fleeting? Does play in this center frequently deteriorate into roughhousing? Would you like to encourage richer and more developed episodes of sociodramatic play in the block center?

This
essay explores a shared book-reading and modeling technique designed to promote
sociodramatic play in the block center. Sociodramatic play is described by
Smilansky (1968) as dramatic play involving
language between two or more children. The block area was chosen because, like
the housekeeping center, it has been identified as a play area in the classroom
that elicits imaginative language and is conducive to social interaction (Pellegrini, 1983). In developmentally
appropriate classrooms, it is important to ensure that language and emergent literacy
opportunities are encouraged and supported throughout the classroom because not
all children frequent every area during free play (Morrow, 1990; Neuman & Roskos, 1992).
The block center, with its open-ended constructive-type activities and the
opportunity for groups of children to create together, is an area that can
readily support sociodramatic play (Pellegrini, 1983).

Benefits of Sociodramatic Play

The relationship between dramatic play and the language and
literacy development of preschool children is well documented in research on early
childhood emergent literacy (Fein, 1981). Dramatic play has been
defined as the "behaviors children use to transform the identities of objects,
actions, and people" (Pellegrini, 1985, p. 108) and is also referred to as
pretend play (Katz, 2001), fantasy play (Pellegrini, 1983, 1984;
Saltz, Dixon, & Johnson, 1977), symbolic play (Pellegrini, Galda,
Dresden, & Cox, 1991),
and sociodramatic play (Smilansky, 1968). Dramatic play has been
linked to improvements in children's vocabulary (Levy, Wolfgang, &
Koorland, 1992)
and story comprehension (Rowe, 1998; Saltz,
Dixon, & Johnson, 1977), increases in the use of decontextualized
language (Dickinson & Tabors,
2001),
facilitation of syntactical complexity, increases in concept development (Levy, Wolfgang, &
Koorland, 1992),
and increases in story recall (Pellegrini, 1984). Through participation in
dramatic play activities, children develop decontextualized language skills,
enabling them to discuss a pretend event in which there is not shared context
with another child (Snow, 1983), take fantasy roles such as
being a fireman, and symbolically represent objects such as pretending to talk
on the telephone using a block (Dickinson & Tabors,
2001; Smilansky, 1968).
These skills are characteristic of the
literate behaviors required for later school success (Pellegrini, 1985).

Shared Storybook Reading

Equally represented in the literature on language
development is research showing the benefits of reading to preschool children (Elley, 1989; Whitehurst
et al., 1994).
Neuman (1996) implemented book clubs to
provide access to literacy materials and promote parent-child storybook reading
in a study with Head Start children and their parents. Parents received
instruction on how to analyze story events and ideas, relate stories to
personal experiences, and ask stimulating questions. To determine whether
different types of stories provided differing levels of scaffolding, book
selections for this training included stories with highly predictable language
and familiar sequences, episodic predictable texts, and narratives.

Results showed that the interactive style between the
parents and children differed most significantly depending on whether the book
was a highly predictive text or a narrative text. Predictable texts resulted in
more chiming of familiar words and passages and more book-focused
conversations, whereas narrative texts resulted in more reconstructing of story
events and connections being made by the parent between the life experiences of
their children and the story text. These results suggest that children benefit
from the different types of interactions generated by shared storybook reading
opportunities with a variety of text types.

In a study by Whitehurst and colleagues (1994), interactive book reading by
teachers, which included defining vocabulary words, asking children open-ended
questions, and providing children with the opportunities to talk about the
books being read to them, improved the vocabulary of at-risk 4-year-olds. These
interactive book-reading sessions took place in small groups of no more than five
children and demonstrated that this interactive reading style could be
practically and effectively implemented in a real-world preschool classroom.

Incorporating Story-Related Props

Shared book reading not only helps children develop an
appreciation for books but also facilitates the carryover of story themes into
children's play (Saltz, Dixon, &
Johnson, 1977).
Rowe (1998), in an effort to study the
literate potentials of book-related dramatic play of 2- and 3-year-olds in a
preschool setting, added toy sets—toys
related to available children's books—to the library center. In addition to
using the toy sets, teachers would help children locate book-related toys and
props in the classroom and discuss how the toys represented the story themes.
Rowe found that children tended to reenact the parts of books that were of
special interest to them rather than reenacting the entire book. In addition to
reenactment of story lines, children also used the stories as a springboard for
their own dramatic play themes. The story-related props seemed to facilitate
the transition from listening to stories to book-related dramatic play.

Levy, Wolfgang, and Koorland (1992), in a study with kindergarten
children, enriched sociodramatic play by adding props to dramatic play areas
set up to represent different themes (grocery store, hospital, and restaurant).
Results showed that enriching the children's play environment with props along
with adult scaffolding of play scenarios resulted in increased language and
more complex language structures during sociodramatic play.

From
Research to Practice

In light of the robust research touting the benefits of
shared book reading and the addition of props to promote sociodramatic play,
which in turn contribute to language development, I began to observe a
preschool class to see whether research mirrors practice. In fact, just as the
literature shows, sociodramatic play was alive and well in the dramatic play
center. However, in the block center, very little language was being shared
between children. Play in this center consisted predominantly of rambunctious
car play, with the same children choosing the center day after day. Although
this activity was social in nature, it did not promote the kind of
decontextualized and fantasy talk observed in the dramatic play center, which
in this classroom was set up as a housekeeping area. In an effort to encourage
more language among the children choosing the block center, I set out to see whether
I could increase the amount of language interaction during block play by using
block center toys to illustrate story themes during shared storybook reading. My
goal was to see whether storybook reading accompanied by modeling would impact
the amount of sociodramatic play in the block center.

The Intervention

In order to test my theory that incorporating items from the
block center into the shared book-reading activity could be easily and
practically implemented and would encourage more sociodramatic play, I
conducted a small experiment in a preschool classroom, keeping in mind the
constraints and limitations that preschool teachers have on their time and
resources. I used inexpensive books purchased at a local bookstore, which could
easily be substituted with books already present in the classroom. These books
were chosen based on their simple story lines and the ease with which the story
could be demonstrated with blocks and other items from the block center. The
props used for modeling were taken off the shelves in the block center. Items
from other areas of the classroom could also be used depending on the theme of
the books read. As I read a story to the children, I illustrated parts of the
story with items found in the block center—blocks, plastic people, and a
wooden dollhouse. Afterward, I placed the items back in the block center along
with the book read and observed the children's language behaviors during the
free choice time that followed group storytime. The modeling intervention took
place over a 3-week period.

The Results

Examples of the change in pretend play that resulted from
the reading and modeling ranged from an increase in play with the plastic
animals found in the block center to an elaborate dramatic play episode using a
book in the block center as a reference. Of the five books presented to the
children, each generated some related pretend play. After reading Jack and
the Animals by Donald Davis (1995), I noticed an increase in the amount of
pretend play with the plastic animals by the children in the block center. For The
Three Bears by Paul Galdone (1972), I used small colored blocks as "porridge." While watching the play in the block center that followed, I
observed a child hand one of the blocks to another child and say "eat this." Following the reading of Flashing Fire Engines by Tony Mitton and Ant
Parker (1998), a child approached his peers and attempted to convince them to
put on the fire hats that had been used to model parts of the story in the
earlier reading. After hearing the story Henry and Mudge and the Tall Tree
House by Cynthia Rylant (2002), a child picked up the book during block
play and said to his playmates, "Let's go make a tree house." Lastly, after the
story When I Was Five by Arthur Howard (1996) was read and modeled, a
child began building bunk beds (as was modeled during the reading) for a house
he was building.

Classroom Carryover. The ideas for dramatic
play that the children gained as a result of the story reading and modeling
intervention could also be carried over into other areas of the classroom,
allowing for ongoing story lines and play scenarios between children. For
example, Jack and the Animals could lead to a discussion of animals and
the inclusion of a dramatic play area with a farm theme in the classroom. The
science center would be a great place to display hay and oats as the children
learn what farm animals eat. The Three Bears might prompt a porridge-cooking
activity and a story reenactment in the housekeeping center. Bowls and spoons
could be added to the sand table, allowing for the theme to continue there as
well. Flashing Fire Engines would be a great segue into the theme of
community helpers, easily acted out with vehicles, blocks, and pretend people as well as by the children
themselves with dress-up clothes from the dramatic play center. By weaving dramatic play
themes throughout the classroom areas, all children, not just those who enjoy playing
in the dramatic play area, are provided encouragement and opportunities for
sociodramatic play. By
allowing children to bring items from one activity area into another, a myriad
of new dramatic play themes develop, providing even more language-sharing
opportunities between children.

Implications for Future Practice. In addition to
finding that book-related play did increase among some children after the
modeling took place during shared storybook reading, certain behaviors were
also noted during my observations that actually may have discouraged rich sociodramatic
play in the block center. In an effort to keep the room somewhat organized and
teach children that "everything has its place," children were discouraged from
bringing materials from other play areas into the block center. On one specific
occasion, a child brought a chair into the block area from the housekeeping
center. The teacher at first told the child that the chair did not belong in
the block area but then acquiesced. What resulted was a very elaborate dramatic
play event in which children used a book located in the block area to provide
ideas for a spaceship, which they designed from blocks. The "captain" sat in
the chair and barked out orders to the other children in the block center,
constantly referring to the book for ideas.

On another occasion, the classroom teacher joined the
children in the block center and encouraged them to assist her in constructing
a house for children with special needs that was in keeping with the topic they
were studying during that particular week. Although one or two children did
join in the activity for short periods, the teacher's presence and
direction of the house-building activity seemed to actually inhibit other
activities in the center. This finding is consistent with research (Dickinson & Smith,
1991)
that has shown that preschool children tend to spend more time in pretend talk
with their peers than with their teachers. However, other studies have shown
the benefits of adult involvement in increasing literacy and dramatic play (Christie & Enz,
1992; Levy, Wolfgang, & Koorland, 1992). This contradiction may
indicate a difference in the level of involvement of the teacher in the play
activity, with benefits being derived from prompting and guiding as opposed to
directing and organizing the play activity. The age of the children may also
impact the effect of teacher involvement on pretend play, with older
preschoolers having the ability to play more on their own and younger children
benefiting from the scaffolding of adults to support their pretend play
scenarios (Rowe, 1998).

Another benefit of
combining props with a shared story was an increase in the total amount
of block play for some of the children observed. Instead of flitting between
centers, these children seemed to stay with their activities in the block
center longer. Finding ways to increase
children's time spent on play activities may allow them more opportunities to
interact with other children in complex and mature ways. By providing
opportunities for prolonged periods of social interaction, we give children the
opportunity to participate in lengthy conversations with their peers, thereby helping
them learn the "give-and-take" of mature dialogue. Pretending, exchanging ideas,
and providing explanations build skills that children will later use when
learning to read (Snow, 1983). By spending more time in the block center,
children had increased opportunity to interact with other children during
construction activities and, therefore, more time for dramatic play.

Conclusion

The incorporation of toys into shared
story reading provides an easy-to-implement opportunity for teachers to promote
sociodramatic play among children during their free play activities. Modeling
story themes makes stories come to life and provides a pivot for further
imaginary play with friends during later play opportunities. In addition, by
showing children how book themes can be incorporated into play, teachers
reinforce the importance of literacy in our lives. Making developmentally
appropriate literacy opportunities available for children throughout the early
childhood years is an important responsibility of the preschool teacher (NAEYC & IRA, 1998). Providing the necessary
adult guidance and scaffolding activities helps children remain at one task
long enough to have successful play experiences by providing opportunities for
discussion and interaction with peers and adults. Providing places and allowing
time for children to interact create opportunities for social competence and
language development.

The numerous daily classroom
responsibilities of preschool teachers coupled with parent meetings, administrative
paperwork, and daily housekeeping can lead to rigid classroom rules and
stagnant classroom arrangements and activities. By becoming aware of the
nature, strengths, and weaknesses of an environment and the activities
available in that environment, teachers can make simple changes in their
classrooms and in their formal and informal teaching activities that will
increase children's opportunities for language sharing. Using classroom toys to
model story themes is an easy way for preschool teachers to reinforce new
vocabulary and concepts as well as help children better understand the story
content. Understanding that stories can be "told" with items found in the
classroom also provides a springboard for later pretend play. Re-creating
stories during free play activities allows children to practice retelling stories in
sequence and provides a common theme for children from which they can develop
conversations and practice language.

References

Christie,
James F., & Enz, Billie. (1992). The effects of literacy play interventions
on preschoolers' play patterns and literacy development. Early Education and Development, 3(3), 205-220. EJ 447 691.

National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & International
Reading Association (IRA). (1998). Learning
to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. A
joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the
National Association for the Education of Young Children: Washington, DC: Author. ED 420 052.

Rylant, Cynthia.
(2002). Henry and Mudge and the tall tree house. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Author Information

Janie Heisner is a doctoral
student in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education in
the School of Education at Georgia State University. She received her B.A.
degree in elementary education from Harding College and M.Ed. degree in
educational administration from University of Hawaii. Her research interests
include language and literacy development of preschool children. Ms. Heisner
serves as the Regional Child Care Coordinator for the General Services
Administration where she oversees the operation of child care centers in
federal buildings.